Showing posts with label ptsd on trial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ptsd on trial. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Combat Medic Served with Welsh Regiment in Iraq, Faces Judge Over Jelly?

Before you think I've totally lost my mind, read the story and then understand this veteran served as a medic in combat, but couldn't get over jelly even though he was getting help. Just goes to show that not all help is good help if this happened.

Iraq veteran threatened girlfriend with knife in row over jelly

Devon Live
Ted Davenport
August 23, 2017


Former army medic had PTSD when he attacked partner
A judge has showed mercy on a former army medic who attacked his partner while suffering from post-traumatic stress caused by his service in Iraq.

Christopher Minards threatened his girlfriend with a knife and pushed her and her twin sister during a petty argument over spilled jelly.

He had just come home from working a night shift as a hotel porter when he lost his temper and threw a mug at a mirror, breaking both.

His behaviour was so violent that his partner and her twin sister both fled the home in Newton Abbot and waited for police to arrive.

Minards, aged 32, is a former army medic who has been receiving support and treatment from veteran's charities for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) dating back to his service with 4th Rifles and the Welsh Regiment in Iraq.
read more here

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Dad Fears For Son Because He Came Back From War?

This is Independence Day but Christian Hidalgo is not free. Not free from the memories of battles he was sent to fight. Not free of the demons that followed him home. Not free of anything really, because today he woke up in jail instead of a VA hospital.

He knew he needed help and went to the VA but he left before was seen by a specialist.

So what happened? What happened that Gary Hidalgo didn't know what his son took home from war? Why wasn't he trained to understand what he was seeing? Why wasn't Christian helped as soon as he got back? Isn't that what all the Facebook "charities" are saying they do? After all, they are all over the country. As a matter of fact, there are now over 400,000 of charities claiming to be helping veterans. So where were they?

That's the biggest thing that keeps getting missed. Veterans come home after risking their lives in war, then find they are still left alone to fight this. So why aren't they finding the help they need a decades after "awareness" was spread across social media sites?
‘I’m Scared Every Day:’ Father Of High-Speed Pursuit Suspect, Army Vet Says Son Suffers From PTSD 
CBS News 
July 3, 2017 

WEST COVINA (CBSLA.com) — Rarely do we find out what was going on with the driver in a pursuit.

But Gary Hidalgo is speaking out after his son, who he says suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was arrested following a high-speed chase Saturday.

“I’m scared every day,” he said. “It’s hard. I don’t know what to do.”

Gary says his son, Christian, was injured a few years ago serving oversees in the Army.

“He looks at you like he’s OK … He looks normal. But there’s something that’s a trigger that I have no idea how to handle or manage,” he said. 

Gary says his 26 year old son called him from the VA in Los Angeles describing suicidal symptoms and left before seeing a specialist. read more here

Friday, May 26, 2017

Marine Veteran With PTSD Gets Justice and No Jail Time

Marine vet takes plea deal in PTSD pot bust
KSWO News
By Rhiannon Poolaw, Digital Producer
Friday, May 26th 2017

LAWTON, OK (KSWO)- Kristoffer Lewandowski, the Marine veteran charged with possession of multiple marijuana plants in Comanche County, has accepted a plea deal. The plea agreement with the Comanche County District Attorney's office resolves all pending charges filed against Lewandowski.
According to Thomas Hurley, the retired Marine's Oklahoma-based attorney, in the plea deal, Lewandowski, who served ten years in the U.S. Marine Corps deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the waters off of Somalia, will serve no jail time and plead guilty to a deferred felony charge for marijuana cultivation. If he does not violate the law during a five-year period of probation, no felony will be placed on his record.

"Tens of thousands of people around the country who have remained steadfast in supporting Kris throughout this ordeal have shown we can make progress even in states like Oklahoma that have not yet recognized the many medical benefits of cannabis." Michael Minardi, a medical cannabis attorney based in Tampa, Florida who is serving as part of Lewandowski's trial team commented, "the decision by Oklahoma to go from seeking years of prison time to no jail time at all and just a deferred felony is a huge victory for all of us in this country who are fighting for medical cannabis patients' rights."

In 2012, he was diagnosed with severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following his service tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and, after a cocktail of 14 different pharmaceutical drugs proved ineffective for treating his PTSD, Lewandowski began using medical cannabis.
read more here

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Veteran Marine Faces Charges--And Maybe Finally Help

Injured West Springfield explosives suspect released from hospital
Decoteau will be placed in the "Emergency Stabilization Unit"
WWLP 22 News
By Barry Kriger
Published: May 5, 2017

LUDLOW, Mass. (WWLP) – An apparently distraught veteran, who injured himself while awaiting arraignment in Springfield this week, was released from the hospital on Friday and taken to the Hampden County Jail in Ludlow.
Hampden County Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Stephen O’Neil told 22News Baystate Medical Center notified the House of Corrections that 30-year-old Robert Decoteau III was being discharged Friday afternoon.

O’Neil said Decoteau will be placed in the Ludlow correctional facility’s “Emergency Stabilization Unit”, pending his transfer to Bridgewater State Hospital; “The ‘Emergency Stabilization Unit’ is for inmates with severe mental health challenges.”

West Springfield Police Chief Ronald Campurciani had previously described Decoteau as a 5-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, who was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
read more here

Saturday, April 15, 2017

PTSD on Trial: Iraq Veteran

Ohio judge finds Mississauga veteran not guilty of attempted murder due to insanity
The Star
By SAMMY HUDES
Staff Reporter
April 14, 2017
Lesko, a permanent resident of Canada where he has lived since 2009, served in the U.S. military from 2003 to 2008, including two tours in Iraq.

He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his arrest.

A Mississauga veteran was found not guilty by reason of insanity on Friday for an attempted murder and felonious assault charge he faced in Ohio.

Jason Lesko during one of two tours of duty in Iraq when he served in the U.S. military from 2003-2008. (SUPPLIED BY PRECIOUS LESKO)
The charges stemmed from an incident in November 2016 when Jason Lesko allegedly stabbed his brother several times in the neck, chest and hand with a kitchen knife at their father’s house in Ravenna, Ohio.

Lesko’s wife Precious recalled her husband being confused and “behaving erratically” on Nov. 28.


The next morning, she awoke to find her husband had disappeared from their Mississauga home without his cellphone or a change of clothes.


He turned up at his father’s house in Ohio, where his brother was. His brother tried to reason with him, urging him to return to his family in Canada.


Jason Lesko was charged on Dec. 8 with attempted murder, felonious assault and disrupting public services in connection with the incident involving his brother, which he couldn’t even remember, according to Precious.

read more here

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Will Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin Get Justice and Help?

Judge considers shortening ex-soldier's sentence due to PTSD
By: Associated Press
Posted: Feb 13, 2017
Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin
COLORADO SPRINGS - A judge in central Colorado is considering reducing a former soldier's sentence for drunkenly shooting his friend based on whether he is receiving adequate mental health care in prison.

The Gazette of Colorado Springs reports that 4th Judicial District Judge Lin Billings-Vela said on Thursday that reports that former Staff Sgt. Cory Griffin's mental health is deteriorating while he serves his eight-year sentence may rise to the level of an extraordinary circumstance that merits a sentence reduction.
read more here

Saturday, February 11, 2017

PTSD on Trial: Georgia

Former soldier uses PTSD defense in death penalty trial
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Rhonda Cook
February 10, 2017
Witnesses told police Mixon became even more belligerent as officer Jordan, a 43-year-old father of seven, walked her out. In the parking lot, Bowman allegedly shot Jordan five times in the back as he tried to arrest Mixon.
LaGrange, Ga.
A former sergeant in the Georgia National Guard said he does not remember shooting and killing an off-duty police officer outside a Griffin Waffle House almost three years ago, but he doesn’t doubt that he did it.
A portrait sits on the stage for the home going service for Griffin police officer Kevin “Shogun” Dorian Jordan, 43, who tragically died in the line of duty at the Oak Hill Baptist Church on Monday, June 9, 2014, in Williamson. CURTIS COMPTON
Michael Bowman — the first defense witness called in his death penalty trial — is claiming post traumatic stress disorder from three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan caused him to react as if he were being attacked by the enemy when he allegedly shot and killed officer Kevin Jordan.
read more here

PTSD on Trial: Florida Ret. Air Force Major

Retired Air Force major guilty of trying to kill 2 family members
WSVN 7 News Miami
February 10, 2017
Maffei shot Katherine and Robert multiple times as his 4-year-old son begged him to stop.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A retired Air Force Major is facing 25 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty, Thursday night, of trying to kill his wife and father-in-law.

Thomas Maffei claimed prescription medications sent him into a rage on Nov. 2, 2012, when he opened fire on his then-wife, Katherine Ranta, and her father, Robert, at her Coral Springs apartment. Both victims survived their gunshot wounds.

Katherine and Robert tearfully sat in the courtroom as a jury foreman read the guilty verdict. The jury took just six hours to find Maffei guilty on two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
read more here

Thomas Maffei’s defense attorneys claim post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety caused him to go to the Veterans Affairs clinic on Nov. 2, 2012, where he received prescription pills and a tranquilizer. Hours later, he went to his then-wife’s Coral Springs apartment and shot her and her father.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

PTSD on Trial: VA and Air Force Veteran Needing Help

And we should wonder which contractor staffed this clinic for a lot of money instead of VA employees doing it because they love veterans...and usually are veterans.
Trial starting for ex-Air Force major accused of trying to kill his wife and her dad in Broward
Sun Sentinel
Paula McMahon
February 4, 2017
"He goes to the VA that day, looking for help and they just loaded him up with more pills," Haddad said. "This is a guy who was a major in the Air Force, he has a master's degree. This is a stand-up guy, a highly regarded, trusted retired member of the military who served his country."
Thomas Maffei Sun Sentinel / Broward Sheriff's Office Handout
Thomas Maffei, 49, a retired Air Force major from Parkland, is charged with attempted first-degree murder in the November 2012 shootings of his estranged wife and her father in Coral Springs. Both victims survived.
Hours before retired U.S. Air Force Major Thomas Maffei shot and seriously injured his estranged wife and her father in Coral Springs, he went to a Veterans Administration crisis clinic in Palm Beach County and told staff he was under extreme stress.

When Maffei goes on trial Monday in Broward Circuit Court on attempted murder and other charges, he won't dispute that he fired three shots through his then-wife's apartment door as she and her father leaned against it, trying to keep him out.
read more here

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

PTSD On Trial: Aaron Wanless in Florida

Troubled vet sentenced to 48 years for shooting at lawmen
Northwest Florida Daily News
By Kelly Humphrey
January 25, 2017
Wanless was under treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses at the local Department of Veterans Affairs clinic when he fired a gun in the direction of Okaloosa County deputies during a 2015 altercation. In December, he was found guilty of five felonies in connection with the incident.
Assistant State Attorney Jonathan Schlechter and Public Defender Ricky Dayaram walked into Circuit Court Judge William Stone's courtroom on Wednesday with two very different goals.

Dayaram attempted to convince the judge to depart from mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines that could send his client, 35-year-old Aaron Wanless, to prison for nearly 50 years. He asked the judge to consider sentencing Wanless to 48 months in prison, followed by probation and in-patient treatment for mental illness.

Schlechter, on the other hand, argued that Wanless should be punished to the full extent of the law as prescribed by Florida's 10-20-Life statute, which at the time Wanless was arrested applied to felonies that involve the use of a firearm. The law was repealed last year and replaced with a statute that gives judges more flexibility in sentencing.
read more here

Saturday, January 21, 2017

We probably have the idiotic report of the week on Combat PTSD

Ladies and Gentlemen, we probably have the idiotic report of the week. Then again, the week isn't over yet. "Mindset of charged Iraqi War vets questioned" By Jim Holt on the Santa Clarita Valley January 20, 2017,
"The actual condition, however, has yet to receive the attention it demands from the Veterans Administration where psychologically wounded soldiers – as Andersen is convinced applies to Ditch – go for help."
I know it is very hard for some younger folks to comprehend the simple fact that something isn't all about them, but involves far too many other waiting even longer for what they claim they lack, but that is bull. Bull at least for this generation considering Vietnam veterans are the ones who came home and pushed for all the funding and research.

This is part from the Department of Veterans Affairs History of PTSD.
"In 1980, APA added PTSD to DSM-III, which stemmed from research involving returning Vietnam War Veterans, Holocaust survivors, sexual trauma victims, and others. Links between the trauma of war and post-military civilian life were established."
And this is how long researchers have been trying to understand it.
Early attempts at a medical diagnosis Accounts of psychological symptoms following military trauma date back to ancient times. The American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) mark the start of formal medical attempts to address the problems of military Veterans exposed to combat. European descriptions of the psychological impact of railroad accidents also added to early understanding of trauma-related conditions.
The subject of the report are two veterans. The report added this.
In a letter dated July 10, 2013, addressed to Ditch from the Department of Veterans Affairs, a copy of which was obtained by The Signal, shows Ditch being compensated as of February 2011. The claim, according to Andersen, was for injuries Ditch suffered which include PTSD and traumatic brain injury, TBI. According to Andersen, he and Ditch – age 20 and 22 – when they were deployed to Iraq with the 27th Infantry, were not the same people that returned to America.“Ditch had a buddy that was shot right next to him in a tower,” Andersen said. “He also saw lot of other friends shot and killed; some blown up.“He was a good kid,” he said. “There are hundreds of guys, including high-ranking guys, ready to support him.”
There is only so much the VA can do. Consider the fact there are now over 400,000 veterans charities set up across the country to "support" and help veterans. Countless folks are doing pushups and taking walks so they raise awareness about the problems veterans have, without doing anything about the "problem" itself.

They get away with all of it because the press never holds any of them accountable. Are they afraid to actually go after a feel good story they jumped to share more than they are afraid of the outcomes they did nothing to change?

They have made the VA an enemy instead of covering what they have gotten right, plus all the different things they are doing to treat PTSD. The VA saved more veterans than you will ever hear about but the veteran has a responsibility in all of this too. They need to do the work to heal and take advantage of what had been in place for them since the 80's. PTSD Suicide Survivor New Year's Message of Hope

Sunday, October 2, 2016

PTSD on Trial: Walter Laak

Las Vegas man’s journey from stalwart Marine to PTSD time bomb
Las Vegas Review Journal
Keith Rodgers
October 1, 2016

Since his general discharge from the Marines under honorable conditions in January 2005, Laak said his Veterans Affairs service-related disability rating for PTSD has been increased in stages from 30 percent to 100 percent. At one time, he said, he was taking medication for nightmares but stopped, without explaining why he turned away from the VA’s efforts to help him cope with the mental illness.
The horrors of war came home with Walter Laak when the Las Vegas Marine returned from two tours of combat duty in Iraq with a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Today he sits in a jail cell, charged with beating and attempting to run over a Las Vegas pastor with his vehicle, then driving back to his victim’s home and firing multiple gunshots into it while the pastor’s wife and children hid inside. It is the third serious crime Laak has been charged with since his return from the battlefield. He was given a general discharge in 2005.

In two jailhouse interviews last week, Laak, 36, said he carried out the unplanned attack because he believed the pastor, a former neighbor, was an FBI “snitch” trying to interfere with his efforts to expose what he says were war crimes committed by U.S. military officials during the Iraq War.

In the interviews at the Clark County Detention Center, where he awaited a court appearance Monday to face charges of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm, Laak spoke calmly about his war experiences and made some seemingly bizarre allegations about “friendly-fire” Marine deaths.

His first tour of duty began at the onset of the invasion of Iraq and lasted through his unit’s arrival in Nasiriyah, where he says his experience led to his ongoing struggle with what he calls “delusional” PTSD.
read more here

Thursday, September 15, 2016

PTSD On Trial: Matthew Desha and Road Rage

Investigator | Solon gunman shouted: "They killed my father"
WKYC
Phil Trexler and Tom Meyer
September 14, 2016

Matthew Ryan Desha (Photo: SPD)
SOLON: - After Matthew Ryan Desha emptied his AR-15 rifle on random motorists in Solon, police say he offered a curious defense.

“They killed my father,” he shouted.

Desha, 29, then recounted his mental health history to officers. Post-traumatic stress, drug abuse.

Friends say he often stopped taking his medication. He also often stopped seeking counseling.

No one had killed his father.

Desha, however, is accused of killing Deborah Pearl, whose car he crashed into on Solon Road after speeding through a red light Aug. 27.

Immediately after the crash, reports show Desha began firing his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. He fired at Pearl’s car before she was able to get out, reports show.

He also shot toward four different drivers, all of whom had stopped at the crash.

Reports show two men managed to subdue Desha until officers arrived. Desha, dressed in a USMC T-shirt, had used every bullet he had.

Another man recorded the images on his cell phone. The video, which shows Desha firing his weapon, was turned over to police.

Desha, a Marine veteran, served two tours in Iraq.
read more here

Thursday, August 4, 2016

PTSD On Trial: Iraq Veteran Faces Murder Charges in Alabama

Keep in mind that we have millions of veterans with PTSD yet the majority are more of a danger to themselves than anyone else. These cases are in fact rare.
Attorney: Dothan murder suspect an Army veteran diagnosed with PTSD
Dothan Eagle
Matt Elofson
August 2, 2016

Steensland said his client is a disabled veteran of the U.S. military.

“It’s my understanding he’s 100 percent disabled, and diagnosed with PTSD,” Steensland said. “I believe he served a 15-month tour in Iraq, and served approximately eight years in the Army.”
A Dothan man who surrendered to police Monday night after being charged with murder hopes to be released from jail after a bail hearing next week.

Attorney John Steensland III said he formally requested a bail hearing for his 29-year-old client, Brandon Allen Ransom, during his first appearance of court on Tuesday.

Dothan police filed a felony warrant charging Ransom with murder in the shooting death of 26-year-old Christopher “Chris” Bailey.
read more here

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

PTSD On Trial: Three Tours of Duty Facing Trial After Shooting Neighbor

Marine Veteran Accused in Shooting Death Struggled after Military Tour
The Leader-Telegram
by Julian Emerson
Aug 02, 2016

Fiore, Blechinger and Knetter said their friend was adversely impacted by the explosion of a military vehicle during his last tour of duty that killed his best friend and others her served with. The blast resulted in hearing loss and a concussion for Helmbrecht. But the emotional damage went deeper, they said.
Family and friends of the suspect in the fatal shooting of his 36-year-old neighbor Saturday morning said the tragedy likely could have been prevented had he received help with mental health problems that had worsened significantly in recent months.

Police arrested Shane M. Helmbrecht, 44, after they say he shot and killed Jenny Ward at her home at 105 Simon Court on Eau Claire's north side near Mount Simon Park. On Monday Eau Claire County Judge Jon Theisen set a $1 million bond for Helmbrecht, who told police he ingested methamphetamine the day before shooting Ward and has no mental health issues.

"This wasn't Shane," an emotional Tammy Fiore, a friend of Helmbrecht's, said of the shooting. "It was his mental illness ... People tried to get (Helmbrecht) help. They tried lots of times. But none of those efforts worked, and this is the result."

Friends said Helmbrecht, 44, a decorated military veteran, served tours of duty in Operation Desert Storm and later in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he cleared roadside bombs with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He was once a fun-loving, humorous, caring friend who was a talented musician and carpenter, his friends said. He went out of his way to help others in need, they said, and had a big personality and a zest for life.
read more here



Saturday, May 28, 2016

After Three Deployments Homeless Veteran With PTSD Sits in Jail?

Mother of arrested homeless man: Son a veteran with PTSD 
Killeen Daily Herald
David A Bryant
Herald Staff Writer
May 28, 2016

“My son needs help. He doesn’t need to be locked up, he needs to be in a hospital receiving treatment,” Dianna Evens Brown.
Eric J. Shelton | Herald Dianna Brown holds a photograph of her son, Jeremy Jeremiah Arrington, on Friday at her home in Killeen. Arrington is an army veteran and suffers from severe PTSD, according to Brown. He was arrested for assault against a police officer.
The mother of a homeless man charged with assaulting a police officer Monday by the Killeen Police Department says her son is an Army veteran of Iraq and Kuwait suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dianna Evens Brown, 64, of Killeen, said her son, Jeremy Jeremiah Arrington, 31, was put on anti-psychotic drugs such as Haloperidol and Risperdal by the Army before he was medically discharged 17 months ago. The medications are used to treat schizophrenia and symptoms of bipolar disorder.

After getting the runaround from jail officials, Brown said she was given clearance from the Bell County Jail in Belton to be put on the visitor list when she told jail officials she had brought the issue to the Herald’s attention. However, she is unable to ensure he is taken care of and on his medications due to federal laws regulating release of medical information, she added.

Records show Arrington deployed to Iraq from February 2009 to January 2010 and again from July to December 2011 before being sent to Kuwait from January through June 2012. His awards include three Army Commendation Medals, five Army Achievement Medals, the Iraq Campaign Medal with two campaign stars, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
read more here

Saturday, May 21, 2016

PTSD on Trial: Iraq Veteran Found Legally Insane After Shooting Neighbor and His Wife

Iraq veteran insane when he killed neighbor, wounded neighbor’s wife
MyNewsLA

POSTED BY DEBBIE L. SKLAR
MAY 19, 2016

A judge ruled Thursday that an Iraq war veteran was legally insane when he shot and killed his 73-year-old neighbor and wounded the neighbor’s wife at a Reseda apartment building in December 2013.

Superior Court Judge Susan Speer made the finding after reviewing reports from three experts in the case of Ricardo Javier Tapia, 35, who pleaded no contest April 28 to the Dec. 20, 2013, murder of Giam Kim Hoang and the attempted murder of Hoang’s wife, Ngoc Hoan Thi Nguyen, 61.

Tapia will be sent to Patton State Hospital for treatment for at least six months, according to his attorney, William M. Paparian.

Tapia’s lawyer said he will then ask for his client to be sent to a Veterans Administration residential facility for treatment of a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“My goal is to get him the treatment that I believe he desperately needs,” Paparian said.

Tapia was taken to a VA hospital in December 2013 on an involuntary psychiatric hold after his fiance called 911 about his erratic behavior, but he was released a day later and his handgun was not confiscated by police, according to his lawyer.
read more here

Monday, May 2, 2016

Why Are Veterans With PTSD On Death Row?

Sometimes I am sure I should have just come home from work and taken a nap instead of reading some of the articles I am sent. After this one, I need a good stiff drink first and then maybe a nap.
An Ex-Marine Killed Two People in Cold Blood. Should His PTSD Keep Him From Death Row? "We are sending to war the most proficient and lethal killers in our nation’s history." Mother Jones, By AJ Vicens, May 2, 2016
The ruling on his case has implications for a question that has concerned the military, veterans' groups, and death penalty experts: Should service-related PTSD exclude veterans from the death penalty? An answer to this question could affect some of the estimated 300 veterans who now sit on death rows across the country, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But it's unclear how many of them suffer from PTSD or traumatic brain injuries, given how uneven the screening for these disorders has been.

Experts are divided about whether veterans with PTSD who commit capital crimes deserve what is known as a "categorical exemption" or "exclusion." Juveniles receive such treatment, as do those with mental disabilities. In 2009, Anthony Giardino, a lawyer and Iraq War veteran, argued in favor of this in the Fordham Law Review, writing that courts "should consider the more fundamental question of whether the government should be in the business of putting to death the volunteers they have trained, sent to war, and broken in the process" who likely would not be in that position "but for their military service." In a 2015 Veterans Day USA Today op-ed, three retired military officials argued that in criminal cases, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges often don't consider veterans' PTSD with proper due diligence. "Veterans with PTSD…deserve a complete investigation and presentation of their mental state by the best experts in the field," they wrote.
That part of the article is right. PTSD is not a get off the hook free pass but justice does require disclosure of it. These cases are still very rare, as indicated by the number of veterans reported to be on death row. We have about 22 million veterans in this country.

If we don't take care of them when they are in the service, which clearly evidence proves we don't, and then can't manage to take care of then as veterans, substance abuse usually follows along with a lot of other things. The very nature of someone in the military is to save people even though they are trained to kill in order do to that, but we tend to skip that part. So how is it they go from being willing to die for the sake of someone else into killing others? That is a good place to start but then we have to add in the other simply fact we also like to forget. It is still happening. When it happened to all the other generations of veterans, we had the luxury of ignorance for an excuse. After all these years, no excuse should be acceptable because since 2007 the military and the VA has had 40 years of research to come up with a better plan than they ended up with.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Who Failed Mary Louise Mora and Husband Accused of Murder?

Jesus Mora had sought help for PTSD and was on medication. Did his doctor fail to notice that he was in fact a danger to others? Family members were worried. Friends were worried, especially after he attacked someone and bit off a "chunk" of his face during a party. 

Now his wife is dead. So who failed her? 

Was it the military psychological training service members in what we have been told to be "preventing" and helping them to readjust? Was it the medication he was on? Something like this usually does not happen but when it does, we need to be asking a lot more questions about how someone can go from being willing to die to save someone into being accused of murder.

Veterans are far more likely to harm themselves than anyone else so what happened with Mora?
Warrant: Man with PTSD attempted to detach wife's arms, neck from torso in murder
Fay Observer
By Monica Vendituoli Staff writer
Apr 28, 2016

Crying, Mora explained to the deputies that something bad had happened. "I feel that it's real. I hope that it's not real," Mora told deputies, according to the warrant.
A man accused of murdering his wife in February attempted to detach her arms and neck, a search warrant says.

The court documents also say the suspect told deputies he was taking medicine for post-traumatic stress disorder when the incident occurred.

Jesus Guillermo Mora, of the 8900 block of Steeplechase Drive, was charged with second-degree murder Feb. 6 for the killing of his wife, Mary Louise Mora, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said.

He was arrested that day as well.

At 1:23 a.m., Jesus Mora called 911 and asked that deputies come to his residence. They found him in a grassy field near his home talking to the 911 dispatcher. The warrant noted that he appeared to be impaired.

Crying, Mora explained to the deputies that something bad had happened. "I feel that it's real. I hope that it's not real," Mora told deputies, according to the warrant.

Deputies drove Mora back to his residence. During the ride there, the warrant said Mora told deputies that he had been deployed to Afghanistan while in the military and was taking medication for PTSD. Mora also told the deputies he had been drinking.
read more here

Saturday, March 26, 2016

PTSD On Trial: Four Tour Veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq

Logan County Jurors Hear Witness Testimony Regarding Shooting Of Lora Karras
Times Record
By Pat McHughes
Paris Express
March 26, 2016

The jury heard testimony Friday that when Lora Karras, 40, was shot three times and killed in March 2014 at her home near Scranton she may not have been the intended victim.

The jury heard that information when a taped interview between a Logan County Sheriff’s Office investigator and the man accused of her murder was played in court. On the tape, the accused, Josh Johnson, 40, of New Blaine, described an argument he’d had with Jennifer Johnson, who was then his wife, which led to her taking their two children and leaving their home. During the interview, conducted the night of March 19, 2014, a few hours after Karras was killed, Johnson told then-investigator Ray Gack what happened next.

“I loaded my gun,” Johnson told Gack. “I got in my truck and drove down there. I was hoping to get Robert.”

Robert Karras is the husband of the deceased. However, he wasn’t home. After Johnson arrived at the Karras home on Rodeo Arena Road, according to testimony presented Friday, he shot Lora Karras three times with a shot gun.

Johnson has been charged with first-degree murder and his trial opened Thursday in 15th Judicial District Circuit Court in Paris. Johnson has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease. His lawyers — public defenders John Irwin of Morrilton and Aubrey Barr of Fort Smith — contend that Johnson suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought about by four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Johnson served in the Marines.
read more here